


The Jumper Justification

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2019 [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Dinner, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21729205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: For Christmas dinner Amy and Rory require their guests to wear ugly jumpers, which mostly proves how in sync the Doctor and Rose are- not always for the better.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2019 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560049
Comments: 10
Kudos: 87
Collections: 31 Days of Ficmas 2019





	The Jumper Justification

The trill of Rose’s mobile penetrated the sated fog occupying Rose’s mind, and she lifted her head off her pillow to blink blearily at the lit-up screen.

“Wha’?”

“Your mobile,” the Doctor grunted, head nestled in the small of her back.

He pressed a kiss to the curve of her bum as she flipped the phone open, causing her “Hello?” to come out as more of a breathy sigh.

“Sorry, bad time?” Amy stifled a laugh. “I can call back.”

“Hi, Amy,” Rose rolled her eyes, turning over and sitting up as she pushed the Doctor away from her, wincing when he landed on the floor. “Oops.”

“I’m okay!”

“What’s up?” she returned to the phone call, listening with one ear as she watched the Doctor stand and make a show of dusting himself off.

After a few minutes of catch-up chit chat, Amy got to the point. “So, it’s Christmas next week, and we want you to be there,” she said bluntly. “No excuses, including poor driving.”

“We’ll be there,” Rose promised with a laugh. “What d’you want us to bring?”

“Oooh, I wouldn’t say no to some of that wine from Gelara,” her friend considered. “Or a cake from Velmora. The black forest one?”

Finding a scrap of paper and a pen on her bedside table, Rose jotted the requests down. “Consider them done.”

“Also…”

“Yes?”

“We’re doing a theme this year, and asking everyone- and by everyone I mean you two and Brian- to wear Ugly Christmas Jumpers.”

“ _No_ ,” the Doctor said emphatically from his spot next to Rose, wrestling the mobile away from her to address their friend directly. “Absolutely not!”

Rose wrenched the phone away from him with a glare, putting it on speaker. “Not a problem, anything else?”

“Rose!”

She narrowed her eyes further and he let it go, though that didn’t stop his under-the-breath mutterings. “No problem,” she repeated, “when should we be there?”

“Two.” A shout of Amy’s name came from the other end of the line, and she sighed. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to work, but I’m looking forward to seeing you both – it’s been too long.”

“We’ll see you soon. Have a good day!”

The line went dead, and Rose replaced the mobile on the nightstand. “Now, Doctor-”

“I _hate_ ugly jumpers,” he whined, “or jumpers at all, really, in this body. I’m not _made_ for jumpers this time around. Ro- _ose_ , please!”

She looked at him carefully, the pouty lower lip, the crossed arms… even his hair seemed to be protesting, drooping down across one eye, and deemed his unhappiness to be more about grumpiness than actual detest for the item.

“Now, listen,” she said calmly, “let me present my case, and then you can decide if it’s worth making our friends happy or not.”

He still looked mutinous, but after a moment, he nodded. “You can try,” he warned, “but you won’t convince me.”

A smirk flittered across her mouth; if he was saying that, it meant she had excellent odds of doing just that. “Right.”

Shifting on the mattress she knelt by his hip, using one hand to push his chest back towards the headboard and the other to whip away the sheet he’d draped over his lap for modesty. Meeting his eye and holding it, she licked her lips and bent over, pressing a soft kiss to his lower belly.

“You don’t play fair,” he sulked, already tangling one hand in her hair in anticipation. “Why don’t you ever make your case with words?”

Laughing, knowing he was already resigning himself to the jumper, she flicked her tongue over the area she’d just kissed. “Because this is so much more fun, wouldn’t you agree?”

His strangled groan and whispers of love a short while later during her ‘closing statements’ indicated he did, very much.

* * *

Rose turned in the mirror, smoothing down her skirt and examining her reflection. They’d ended up shopping on a planet dedicated to all things _ugly jumper_ , proving if nothing else that there really was a planet for every niche interest.

She’d matched a fitted black mini-skirt with black stockings and ankle boots, to avoid drawing attention away from the jumper she’d chosen. It was, in her eyes, an adorable monstrosity of Christmas cheer. Designed to look like a button down jumper over a white buttoned shirt, it was red with green trim and covered in symbols of the holiday: trees and wreaths, gingerbread men and Santa, presents and snowflakes and ornaments. But the pièce de résistance, the reason she chose it over literally _thousands_ of options, was for the big green bowtie.

“Rose?”

“Coming,” she called back, running a brush through her hair one last time before declaring herself ready. Making her way out to the console room, she worried her lower lip over the Doctor’s outfit. She’d begrudgingly allowed him to choose without any supervision (this regeneration required significantly more of that than the previous two), and just hoped he’d picked something at all, and that it would be appropriate.

She didn’t relish a repeat of a visit to Martha and Mickey’s son’s Christmas pageant – he’d turned up in a ‘festive’ Christmas jumper she didn’t know about, only for Rose to realize after a few minutes’ snickering first from Jack then Ianto and Mickey that the ‘cute gingerbread couple’ were doing something decidedly _not_ appropriate for children’s eyes.

It had taken the Doctor far longer than he cared to admit to earn back everyone’s trust when it came to dressing himself.

 _Please, please, please let it be appropriate_ , she begged the universe, stepping into the console room. “Right, let me see before you land.”

He turned to her, spreading his arms and beaming as they examined each other’s jumpers.

And promptly began to laugh.

“Oh, wow,” he marveled, snorting. “You can’t say I picked a bad one this year!”

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Rose asked, jaw dropping as she took him in. “Mum’s right- we really _have_ been married too long.”

They were wearing the same jumper.

 _Exactly_ the same jumper, down to the bowtie.

“I should’ve know,” she shook her head, resigning herself to it. “I mean, it had a bowtie- how could you resist?”

“I couldn’t. Besides, why would I want to? Bowties are cool.” And he tweaked the one on the shirt just as he would normally.

The ship landed then, and Rose realized that as bad as this was, they would soon have to step out into the Ponds’ home, where Amy would relentlessly mock them the whole evening.

“Well, this’ll be fun.”

* * *

It took Amy at least twenty minutes to stop laughing long enough to gasp out, “Happy Christmas!” By that time they’d made it into the sitting room, greeted Rory and his father Brian, and been served drinks as she rolled on the floor, howling.

“It’s been a tough few months,” Rory apologized, sitting on the plush chair by the fireplace and watching his wife try to breathe on the rug. “I guess she needed that.”

“Clearly,” the Doctor grumped from his spot wedged in the corner of the couch. “So glad we could amuse.”

Rose patted his knee comfortingly. “Don’t be like that- it’s just a sign of how connected we are,” she soothed. “Thinking alike and all that.”

“‘Great minds think alike’,” Brian said wisely.

The Doctor snorted. “‘And fools seldom differ.’”

Rose, Rory, and Brian stared at him for a moment before she said slowly, “Are you suggesting I’m a fool?”

Realizing his error his eyes widened as he straightened up. “Uh…” Adjusting his bowtie he glanced helplessly at the other three. “No?”

“I didn’t think so.” Lips curling up, she turned back to her hosts. “So, what’s new?”

* * *

The moment they stepped in the TARDIS the Doctor pulled off the jumper, throwing it away with a distasteful expression. “Ugh, finally.” Stalking over to the console he sent them into flight, bracing himself on the panel before looking up at where she still stood, leaning against the railing. “I know it was Christmas but…”

“Is this because you didn’t get a present?” she asked, lips twitching. “I told you Amy said we weren’t going to exchange.”

He stuck his lower lip out, batting his eyes at her. “It was Christmas, there should be gifts,” he maintained. “Trinkets, at least.” Then he frowned down at her jumper, and tugged at the hem. “Why’re you still wearing this?”

Rose let her smile blossom, running her fingers through his fringe before tracing them down along the side of his face. “Because, if you’ll quit pouting, I’ll get two birds with one stone.”

“How so?” His curiosity piqued, he stared expectantly. “Well?”

Taking a step back towards the door that led further into the ship, she gave a casual shrug.

“Because…” Crossing her arms in front of her, she gripped the hem and slowly raised it to mid-stomach. “Taking it off _is_ a present.”

“It is?” Hungry eyes focused on her bare navel belied the innocent tone. “Or is it the wrapping?”

Still backing slowly towards the door, she raised the fabric another inch. “I suppose that depends on what you do with it.” Tongue peeking out from between her teeth the raised the jumper over her head, revealing a particularly festive and skimpy bra that left little to the imagination, mostly consisting of sheer lace and a few strategically placed appliques for modesty. By the time the jumper hit the grating her skirt had joined it, leaving her in matching panties, thigh high stockings, and the boots.

“What d’you think?”

“I think I _love_ Christmas.”


End file.
